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The 33rd March for Life

Yesterday I, and over 100,000 others, popped down to our nation’s capital for the annual March for Life held on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Despite the cold and passing rain, it was an event much enjoyed. I had never been to the March before, nor have I ever been to any sort of demonstration or rally of any kind for any cause. I recall, however, sitting in Canmore one day talking with the young Miss Clare Dempsey who worried over what the grandchildren of our generation might say when they look back remembering abortion and ask “What did you do to fight it?” Though it was comparitively little, waking up at 5:00 in the morning and sitting through a five-hour bus ride was a small price to pay in order to take part in the annual recollection of the devastating moment for the lives of the unborn and their mothers and fathers and family, and for our entire nation.

The March itself began with a rally on the Mall with a number of speakers including congressmen, priests, bishops, rabbis, and others, followed by the actual March itself on Constitution Avenue up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court. The march had a very lively atmosphere and the aspect which struck me most was how young the marchers were. I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the march was composed of college and high school students. I later heard on EWTN that three fourths of the student population of Franciscan University of Steubenville were at the march, taking ten busloads down to D.C. for the March. There were high school students, college students, families, individuals, and the elderly. There were priests, bishops, monks, nuns, friars, preachers, ministers, rabbis, and obviously lay folk. There Americans of all stripes and hues, Black, White, Hispanic, Filipino, Asian, and there were even Canadians despite having their general election that day.

Besides, we had it easy compared to the Cards (frequent commenters and occasional guest bloggers over at Patum Peperium) who had a ten-hour bus ride all the way from Michigan. They arrived in D.C., attended the Mass at the National Shrine and then hit the pub, joined by Misspent and Quicquid. Those wonderful Jacksons baked cookies which they sent for us via the Cards, whom we happily joined at the pub for a much-needed pint of porter after we finished the three-hour-long march. One of the cookies was a bona fide yellow- sweatered Andrew Cusack gingerbread man, akin to the gingerbread facsimiles of New Criterion editor Roger Kimball which the Jackons sent for that publication’s Christmas party. After a quick burger with that motley crew, we had to head back to join our bus (organized by Manhattan Right to Life) and make our way home to the Empire State.

All in all, it was a good time not to mention a great cause. I hope that however (hopefully) few years remain in which there’ll be a March for Life, I might have the pleasure of attending them.

UPDATE: I’ve added some better photos from FreeRepublic which you can view in the extended portion of this post.

Also, as I was on the MetroNorth train to Bronxville, the penultimate leg of the journey home, the conductor noted my ‘Stop Abortion Now’ sign and Manhattan Right to Life sticker and said “It’s good to see some conservative values these days. Don’t get enough of that, especially on this line.” And with a hear-hear, a good night, and a God bless, I stepped off the train into the night towards an awaiting cab to high me back to Schloss Cusack.

Published at 1:39 pm on Tuesday 24 January 2006. Categories: Church Politics.
Comments

Thought you might like to know. 2007 marked the first time the Order of Malta marched. We would be most honored if in 2008 you would like to march with us.

— Greg August KM 27 Jun 2007 9:36 am
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